I wanted to have some critique on this image I shot to day using my new 500mm F4 IS Mk 2 lens. Its not a dramatic image by any means, however its more about the overall exposure and processing that’s been carried out.
I was at Harlew Trout fishery this afternoon which is about a 10 min drive from my house here outside Glasgow. I was having a leisurely stroll around the loch when I came upon a gaggle of Canadian Geese.
The post work was just a slight adjustment to the overall exposure, sharpened and cropped the image.
If anyone has any pointers on the overall image please feel free to leave any comments. I cant believe how sharp the 500mm is. It’s a superb Lens.
Thanks for looking Guys.
Martin
500mm
1/3200
F4.0
ISO 200
He tasks me. He tasks me, and I shall have him. I’ll chase him ’round the moons of Nibia and ’round the Antares maelstrom and ’round Perdition’s flames before I give him up.”
Nice details, colors look good, exposure looks good, you might want to bring the white down a little on the face to see if you can pick up anymore details on the side, but overall a nice shot! Looks like a great lens!
Congrats on your lens! This is an amazing shot. Pose and head turns look good to me. I love the composition and I think you process it well! The whites are well handled. I don't know if I can pull out more details on the neck without making it look grey but you can try Nik Detail Extractor. It might do some wonderful magic there. I think there is a slight magenta tint to the water and that's probably my only nit.
Nice! Good details, good low angle, nice BG, pleasing composition / crop. Whites and blacks look good, as does exposure and color. You don't mention the camera body not critical but always interesting). What is you processing software and settings? That is critical, but it looks like you used it well here, or the light was nice enough that you didn't need to do much.
My only question would be on sharpening -- how and at what stage? I only allow the default sharpening in LR (and might not do that with a body that doesn't have the antialias filter -- haven't used one to try it). Sharpening is only the introduction of artifacts and I would only do it on a copy that has been resized for printing or web post. If the latter, I would only do it on the JPEG, very subtly, with Smart Sharpen set to Lens Blur.
Thanks for the comments, to shed further light on this image, I sharpen in LR using the amount slider first, this is done after all other edits have been completed and I'm happy with the image overall.
I begin with the amount slider and I zoom in on the subject as much as possible, adjusting the amount of sharpening using the +/- keys until I see no difference in the overall image. I then move down to the radius slider set it to 1.5 px, then using the +/- keys bring it down until I see the no more improvement. Personally I tend only to use between 0.5 & 0.8 px.
Finally, I adjust the detail slider to about the mid point, on some images I don’t see this improves much in the way of sharpening.
I learned this technique from a fellow names Antony Morghanti, who is a well know landscape photographer.
If anyone has any other method of sharpening an image in LR 6, that works well primarily for bird photography, then I’d love to hear of such a technique.
Martin
He tasks me. He tasks me, and I shall have him. I’ll chase him ’round the moons of Nibia and ’round the Antares maelstrom and ’round Perdition’s flames before I give him up.”
Heres another image that I've made some adjustments too. I've also removed the slight tint of magenta that was present in the image.
I've also tried sharpening again in LR using the masking tool to highlight the edges and also try and bring out some more details in the face of the bird, particulary around the white patch.
Any comments will be appreciated.
Martin
He tasks me. He tasks me, and I shall have him. I’ll chase him ’round the moons of Nibia and ’round the Antares maelstrom and ’round Perdition’s flames before I give him up.”
I hadn't noticed the slight magenta but this does look better. You do see quite a few people sharpening like that, and if it works for a given image I don't meant to discourage it. The important thing is to be very subtle with it. You can't make an unsharp image sharp (as many people try), but you can enhance a sharp one, if that makes sense. Where to draw the line between sharp and not sharp??
Nice bird, nice treatment, and nice post. I'm glad Adhika caught the magenta cast. I hadn't noticed it either, but it does make a considerable difference. I'm going to need to look more carefully.
I'm especially enjoying the sharpening comments, as I think that's one place I need some work. TFS, and have fun with your new lens!
Canada Goose
